Two Alberta teachers and education advocates, Tania and Lindsay, who run the pages “Remove Nicolaides” and “Let’s Talk Alberta Education” respectively, join me to discuss the realities of Alberta Public Education: its mismanagement at the hands of our Education & Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, and his predecessor: Adriana LaGrange. Tania is a kindergarten French immersion teacher in Calgary-Bow who became involved in advocacy after trying to simply signing a recall petition, while Lindsay describes herself as a “reluctant influencer” with nearly 20 years of teaching experience who started her online presence the same summer the first screeners were introduced. Both discuss how the UCP government’s decisions since 2019 have systematically eroded public education in Alberta, beginning with dramatic cuts to Program Unit Funding (PUF), which had previously provided holistic early childhood assessments and in-school therapeutic supports such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists working weekly with students. Removing these supports after COVID, when students arguably needed them most, has caused unaddressed developmental gaps to snowball as children progress through the school system.
In place of the earlier holistic screener system, the government introduced mandatory literacy and numeracy screeners that both teachers argue are developmentally inappropriate, anxiety-inducing, and produce no meaningful data or corresponding support. Lindsay describes the current screeners as something no teacher asked for, and notes that even the expert credited with designing them bases his university courses on “screening and intervention,” not screening alone. Weber Academy, a high-tuition private school, publicly stated the government screeners were “far too basic” and provided “no meaningful or valuable feedback,” and that administering them would come at the school’s own expense. Administering the screeners requires one-on-one time, substitute teacher coverage, and additional planning burdens that fall entirely on already overstretched teachers, with any resulting intervention also placed on teachers’ shoulders rather than dedicated support staff.
The conversation also explores the political and ideological influences shaping these education policies. Tania identifies a Christian think tank called Cardus that has sent policy memos directly to Minister Nicolaides, with at least three policy directions being implemented by the government in near-verbatim alignment with those memos. One such memo, sent before the teacher strike, outlined strategies for the government to manage a prolonged strike, including paying parents directly from savings on teacher salaries and encouraging movement into charter, independent, or homeschool settings. Both teachers emphasize that the government locked teachers out three days after the strike began rather than using the notwithstanding clause immediately, which they argue was a deliberate strategy to deplete the Alberta Teachers Association’s financial resources and weaken its ability to advocate for teachers.
In closing, both advocates urge parents and Albertans to stay informed, attend school council meetings, and continue supporting public education. Lindsay warns that schools are already in crisis before October, with insufficient resources, growing class complexity, and a widening gap between government rhetoric and classroom reality. Tania notes that Nicolaides has now expanded the screeners into grades four and five, even while schools lack enough hired teachers to manage their existing workloads. Both speakers stress that the future of Alberta depends on properly funded and supported public classrooms, and that the “more is more” framing used by the minister is empty without meaningful, evidence-based action.
Want to take action?
Email your Education Minister at: education.minister@gov.ab.ca. Request that he RETURN Program Unit Funding (PUF) to public school kindergarten students and CANCEL the meaningless and harmful—void of adequate intervention—pre-screening practices.
